A System Level Approach to the Design and Analysis of PCB
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ABSTRACT ABERG, BRYCE. An Approach for the Design and Analysis of PCB Busbars in High Power SiC Inverters using FEA Tools. (Under the direction of Iqbal Husain). Wide band gap semiconductors, including silicon carbide (SiC) and gallium nitride (GaN), allow engineers to develop higher power density systems compared to traditional Si technology. Silicon Carbide, in particular, has promising applications to the automotive, aerospace, and utilities industries among others. Commonly used to create solid electrical and mechanical connections in high power systems, busbars are critical in ensuring system reliability in terms of voltage spike and temperature rise. Laminated busbars, commonly consisting of heavy copper planes separated by a non-conductive substrate, are widely used in industry due to their mechanical, electrical, and thermal robustness. Printed circuit boards (PCB) have advantages over laminated busbars in developing high power density systems. While the optimization of laminated busbar design has been widely reported, high power PCB busbars are less represented in literature. Therefore, a simulation-based methodology used to analyze and optimize the design of PCB busbars using finite element analysis (FEA) tools will be discussed. Two systems were considered for these studies including a 135 kW SiC traction inverter and a 125 kVA SiC inverter used in an active harmonic filter. Components comprising the power loop, including the PCB busbar, power module, and heavy duty interconects were modeled in Q3D to extract the loop inductance for both systems. The two experimental methods used to validate simulation results included double pulse tests (DPT) and impedance measurements. The busbar design in the 135 kW system was optimized using Ansys Q3D, resulting in a 19 % reduction in voltage spike amplitude according to double pulse tests. The loop inductance in the 135 kW system was also measured using an impedance analyzer and there was a less than 5 % difference between measured and simulated inductance values. These experimental results validated the simulation-based approach to analyzing PCB busbars and these same methods were applied to the PCB bussing system in the 125 kVA inverter during the project’s design phase. The study of the 125 kVA SiC inverter’s PCB busbar included an analysis of its design to determine its effect on the system in terms of voltage spikes and temperature rise. The methods from the previous section were extended to demonstrate how the extracted loop inductance from Q3D can be used to define the minimum required decoupling capacitance for a system. The FEA analysis approach was extended to include a thermal-electric simulation to verify the PCB busbar will have an acceptable worst-case temperature rise. Extracted loop inductance from impedance measurements agreed with simulation results, indicating FEA analysis of parasitic loop inductance can have acceptable accuracy. By analyzing two different systems, this simulation-based analysis approach was shown to be appropriate for analyzing specific reliability metrics for any high power system utilizing a PCB busbar. © Copyright 2018 by Bryce Aberg All Rights Reserved An Approach for the Design and Analysis of PCB Busbars in High Power SiC Inverters using FEA Tools by Bryce Aberg A thesis submitted to the Graduate Faculty of North Carolina State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Science Electrical Engineering Raleigh, North Carolina 2018 APPROVED BY: Wensong Yu Douglas Hopkins Iqbal Husain Chair of Advisory Committee DEDICATION I dedicate this document to my family: Pete, Judy and Tyler Aberg and also to my exceptional girlfriend, Lauren Ervin. It is for these people whom I want to improve the world and I am privileged to have their full support. ii BIOGRAPHY The author was raised outside of Portland, Oregon before his family moved to Nashville, TN when he was 10 years old. Throughout school, he enjoyed learning about math and languages which lead him to take an interest in computer science starting in middle school. As a teenager, he watched his father work on various personal projects around the house and in the garage. This lead him to pursue electrical engineering at Western Kentucky University, where he graduated with his Bachelor’s in 2016. While at WKU, he had internships with NASA at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida and the Armstrong Flight Research Center in California a total of four times. These internships were crucial in developing his passion for engineering, aviation, and aerospace which lead him to pursue a graduate degree at North Carolina State University. Starting in 2017, the author was a Research Assistant at the Future Renewable Electric Energy Delivery Management (FREEDM) Systems Engineering Research Center and was also an intern at Northrop Grumman. After graduating with his Master’s in Electrical Engineering from NCSU, the author will join Boeing Commercial Aviation in Seattle, WA as an Electrical Engineer. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First, I want to thank my advisor Dr. Iqbal Husain and Dr. Wensong Yu. Their technical guidance on my work and research allowed me to grow as an engineer during my time here at NCSU. I want to give a huge thank you to Dr. Radha Sree Krishna Moorthy; working with her was an absolute pleasure and I am proud of what we accomplished together. I also want to thank Dhrubo Rahman and Li Yang, whose advice and guidance was appreciated. I also extend gratitude to both Marshal Ollimah and Dr. Andrew Lemmon, without whom some of the experimental results would not be possible. I want to thank my professors from WKU: Dr. Fahrad Ashrafzadeh, Dr. Walter Collett, and Dr. Sanju Gupta. Their belief in me as a student and advice were important factors in my decision to pursue graduate school. I want to acknowledge the NC Space Grant for financial support during Summer 2018. Finally, I want to acknowledge Power America for funding the projects described herein. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Tables .............................................................. vii List of Figures ............................................................. viii Chapter 1 Introduction ..................................................... 1 1.1 High Power Voltage Source Inverters Utilizing Silicon Carbide Semiconductors........ 1 1.1.1 Comparison of Semicondcutor Technology in High Power Inverters.......... 1 1.2 Research Motivation and Objectives...................................... 2 1.3 Thesis Organization.................................................. 3 Chapter 2 Study Approach .................................................. 4 2.1 Introduction ........................................................ 4 2.2 Literature Review..................................................... 4 2.2.1 Busbar Technology.............................................. 4 2.2.2 A Review of Busbar Analysis and Optimization Literature................. 5 2.3 Busbar Analysis Approach .............................................. 7 2.3.1 Definition of Loop Inductance...................................... 7 2.3.2 Parasitic Inductance Theory ...................................... 9 2.3.3 Parasitic Capacitance Theory ..................................... 10 2.3.4 Parasitic Resistance Theory....................................... 12 2.3.5 Parasitic Extraction using Finite Element Analysis ...................... 12 2.4 Experimental Validation............................................... 13 2.4.1 Extraction of Loop Inductance using Impedance Measurements............ 13 2.4.2 Switching Characterization using the Double Pulse Test.................. 16 Chapter 3 Modeling, Minimization, and Measurement of Parasitic Loop Inductance for a 135 kW EV Inverter ............................................... 19 3.1 Introduction ....................................................... 19 3.1.1 System Overview .............................................. 19 3.2 High Power PCB Busbar Design ......................................... 22 3.2.1 High voltage sustainability ....................................... 22 3.2.2 High current conducting capability................................. 22 3.2.3 Power loop inductance.......................................... 23 3.2.4 Heavy Duty Interconnect Design................................... 25 3.3 Parasitic Inductance Extraction of the Major Components of the Power Loop . 25 3.3.1 Modeling of the SiC Power Module ................................. 26 3.3.2 Modeling of the PCB Busbar-A and the Interconnects..................... 27 3.3.3 Decoupling Loop Inductance with Busbar-A .......................... 28 3.4 Optimization of Busbar Design for Minimal Loop Inductance ................... 29 3.5 Experimental Results................................................. 33 3.5.1 Loop Inductance Extraction using an Impedance Analyzer................ 33 3.5.2 Switching Characteristics using the Double Pulse Test ................... 35 3.5.3 DPT Simulation ................................................ 37 v 3.6 Benchmark Comparison .............................................. 38 3.7 Discussion......................................................... 39 3.7.1 Measurement Adapter Design Lessons Learned........................ 40 Chapter 4 Design and Analysis of a PCB Busbar System for a 125 kVA SiC Inverter ......... 44 4.1 Introduction ........................................................ 44 4.2 System Overview..................................................... 44 4.3 Local Busbar Design.................................................